Saturday, June 24, 2017

Russian Politicians Must Be Punished if They Seek to Exploit Ethnic or Religious Issues, Nationalities Chief Says

Paul
Goble

Staunton, June 24 – Ethnic and
Religious issues must become “a taboo for all political parties and figures in
Russia,” Igor Barinov, head of the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs, and
the authorities must crack down “in the harshest possible way” to any violation
of that official ban.

The nationalities official pointed
out that “similar situations had been observed in previous election campaigns”
and involve not only the presidential race but also political competitions
within individual federal subjects.“Of
course,” he continued, “this is a very dangerous tendency.”

Barinov’s words are important for
two reasons. On the one hand, they suggest that the Kremlin is now prepared to
adopt a much more repressive approach to any such discussion given that it has
gotten away with harsher measures in a variety of other sectors of the Russian
political landscape.

And on the other hand, his words
also signal that Moscow is worried about ethnic issues and especially those
within republics that might tear them apart, such as the remaining bi-national
republics in the North Caucasus (Karachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria
where Circassian activism is growing) and Daghestan which has been shaken of
late by Nogay moves.